1. Field of the Art
The present disclosure generally relates to managing distributed devices and to the management of distributed devices with limited contact-ability.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Remote management of equipment in the field has become a common practice for many Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The equipment is frequently distributed over a broad geographical region and often involves hundreds if not thousands or tens of thousands of individual devices. Remote management functions include but are not limited to monitoring and usage data collection, bi-directional file transfer, software update delivery, configuration management, etc. for the device or the monitor agent. These device management functions are most valuable when they contain and operate on accurate and current device data. Furthermore, one single system for providing these types of functions, regardless of device capability, is important to minimize the need for different business process and/or underlying application functions.
A centralized server system is often used to provide connectivity between the OEMs and the equipment. This connectivity allows the OEM to be much faster in resolving problems with the equipment, in part at least because a centralized server system allows the OEM to manage the devices remotely rather than at the site of each piece of equipment. Such an approach allows the OEMs to be more proactive in preventing problems or be more proactive in addressing problems before they become serious. Remote connectivity also enables OEMs to provide many new value added services, such as automatic consumables replenishment, or add completely new business models (e.g. usage based billing).
One very common hurdle that companies wishing to deploy remotely contactable devices face is the network infrastructure that is deployed at the customer site. Security measures such as firewalls and Internet proxies as well as common IT infrastructure mechanisms such as Network Address Translation (NAT) represent a barrier for direct connectivity to the equipment. In particular, to provide direct connections between all the equipment and the centralized server system would often be prohibitively expensive. As a result, many approaches have been proposed that involve use of the Internet or other global networks. One difficulty with such approaches is that security measures frequently block access to on-site devices by external systems. Solutions to these problems have also been proposed as described in patent application Ser. No. 10/028,126, Method and apparatus for managing intelligent assets in a distributed environment. These methods, however, require network connectivity from the device to the central server, often via the Internet or other public networks.
While such an approach may allow the system to communicate with devices that can communicate with the central server, it may be difficult or even impossible to communicate with devices which are not allowed or otherwise unable to communicate with the central server via a network. These solutions are further complicated by devices that may occasionally have network connectivity to the central server, but intermittently lose that connectivity for extended periods of time.